Inter-religious group endorses Atiku, says he will unite, prosper Nigeria

February 12th, 2019

By John Okeke

A multi religious group, Muslim and Christian Initiative for Good Leadership (MCIGL), has formerly endorsed the candi­date of the Peoples Democrat­ic Party (PDP) for the coming 2019 presidential election, for­mer Vice President, Alhaji Ati­ku Abubakar. The presidential election is slated for this week Saturday.

In a communiqué read to journalists after a stakehold­ers meeting which took place at their Monrovia Street, Wuse 2, Abuja headquarters Mon­day morning, the group said the choice of Atiku Abuba­kar was made after painstak­ing deliberations and consid­eration of all variables, stating that the unity of Nigeria and the overall wellbeing of the country, especially the need to revamp the economy and cre­ate jobs for young people were the deciding factors.

According to the communi­qué which was jointly signed by the group’s national chair­man Alhaji Adamu Teku and national secretary, Finbar Aru­wuonye, Nigeria is current­ly at a crossroad with its uni­ty at breaking point, the need therefore to make a positive deviation from the status quo and save the nation.

“The decision to endorse former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was taken af­ter all variables were placed on the table before the National Executive Council, state coor­dinators and other stakehold­ers present at the meeting to­day. After the debate, it was unanimously agreed by all members that the unity of Ni­geria should be the first con­sideration, followed by secu­rity of lives and property of the people as well as econo­my and job creation, among many others.

“After consideration of all the indices, members voted overwhelmingly that Nige­ria is currently on the cross­road and that its unity is at the brinks. Members agreed that the current administra­tion cannot unite Nigeria be­cause the body language of top members of the administra­tion and the sponsoring polit­ical party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) do not at all seem to be sensitive to the high level of disunity and acrimony in the body polity.

“Today, many sections of the country are not happy. There are several allegations of mar­ginalization on the basis of ethnicity, religion and other ar­eas, yet the government seems not be bothered. There have been several outcries by people complaining of appointments by nepotistic considerations as well as economy isolation. Yet nobody seems to listen or cares to address the issues,” the group said.

Another area they said was of paramount importance is security of lives and property which they said government have failed to address.

“The lives of Nigerians and their properties are no long­er safe in the country because the security architectures seem to have collapsed. Initially, the government claimed to have defeated Boko Haram and lat­er changed the slogan to tech­nical defeat. A few days ago, the Minister for Information addressed the media in Abuja where he claimed that interna­tional terror organizations like ISIS and ISWAP are running to Africa after their defeat in Libya and Syria, adding that Nigeria is now a major focus of the conglomerate of glob­al terror.

“What all these mean is that the government cannot se­cure Nigerians. It is therefore on these grounds that we are supporting Atiku to come and save the situation,” the group said.

Continuing, the communi­qué said, “On economic front, it is our considered consensus that the economy of Nigeria is very sick. The Naira is still ex­changing at an outrageous rate of 360 to one Dollar. Cost of living is very high with mil­lions of Nigerians descend­ing into the poverty index. Unemployment is on record high according to the Nation­al Bureau of Statistics as many people who were working be­fore the government came to power are now out of job, es­pecially in the private sector as many companies that can­not withstand the harsh invest­ment environment in Nigeria have shut down, sacked their employees and left the coun­try,” it said.

“We resolved that as suc­cessful business men who have hundreds of thousands of Nigerians in their employ­ment, Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi have what it takes to manage the economy, create millions of jobs both in the public and private sectors as well as create wealth and prosperity for the people of Nigeria,” the state­ment added.

On corruption, Muslim and Christian Initiative for Good Leadership said the current ef­forts at fighting the menace is cosmetic and one- sided.

“While the government claims it is fighting corruption, we have observed that most of the people being prosecuted are members of the opposition par­ty while members of the ruling party are left to enjoy their loot, to the extent that the chairman of the ruling party was recently quoted to have said that crossing to APC is a sure way to escape justice. As we speak to you today, the chairman of APC has not denied the allegations that he made such a statement,” it said.

The group therefore called on all their members across the country as well as other well meaning Nigerians to troop out on Saturday to vote for Al­haji Atiku Abubakar.